Interview With A Wigan Fan

1) So, Villa were shocked by an awful display and a 2-0 loss on opening day. What did you make of that and were you surprised to see us bounce back so well afterwards?

I seem to remember telling you before the game that we would surprise you, that match shows what we are capable of when everything clicks, unfortunately it hasn't clicked often enough so far this season but I wasn't surprised by either the performance or the result, as for Villa you have too many good players to not have bounced back.

2) Conversely, for you what should have been a confidence booster seemed to work against you, do you think we lulled your team into thinking every game would be so simple to win?

Our problem has been our consistency and to be honest the next two games were the catalyst, we lost at home to Wolves, didn't play particularly well and then got battered by Manchester United 5-0 after outplaying them for 45 minutes, we seem to go from the sublime to the ridiculous

3) You have a virtual novice as a manager, I know he was a hero as a player, how is he fairing, will be able to survive and should he be given the time to prove himself at this level?

Martinez is the real deal as far as I am concerned though there are those who have their doubts, we are attempting to play controlled measured football and he is striving to change the ethos of the club from perennial Premier League scrapers to a serious force challenging for European qualification.

Can he do it? Time will tell and he needs to be given time, what we don't want to see is a panic in the boardroom and Martinez being shown the door, he has a genuine love for the Latics and he wants to do well not just for himself but also for the club

4) Rumours - only in the papers I might add! - linked Emile Heskey to a return to the JJB, DW or whatever you call it now (!) - would he be welcome?

I am not one for the returning hero's, for me its a bit like an old lover coming back for more just never seems to work out a second time and you just cant take them seriously.

Heskey had his time with us, he was fantastic, lets leave it there.

5) Where do you think Wigan will end up this season and where SHOULD you be aiming?

I feel we will finish somewhere between 15th and 12th, lower end of the mid-table bunch, but to be honest it all depends on what happens in the transfer window, where we should be aiming for is an improvement on last season and a top 10 finish.

6) Your question back to you: There are one or two clubs in the Premier League that seem to be struggling a bit with their finances, we have an old miser in Dave Whelan in charge and he does look after the clubs coffers quite well which is reassuring at times like this, I do feel sorry for the supporters of the clubs concerned though as they face an uncertain future, surely the FA should act to make sure these occurrences don't be come commonplace, perhaps by bringing in salary capping or something similar, what's your thoughts on this?

I feel that a salary cap is possibly one way to go and the FA need to act for two reasons:

1) to safe guard the future of the clubs, over spending on wages is like the proverbial weight around the neck and it is this that is draining money out of clubs, if there was a wage limit, a maximum amount that could be spent on players salaries as a squad no matter how many players you had in there then this might help to stop the bank balances ending up like flushing toilets.

2) to keep the league competitive, if the salary cap was the same for all clubs then it would become a more competitive league

I know this will never be brought in but something has to be done before a Premier League club goes bust

7) Who do you expect in during the transfer window? If you could have a Villa player or two, who would you take and why?

Martinez says he expects 5 or 6 players to be leaving and seeing as we haven't got a big squad I'd expect that many to be coming in also. Figueroa, Rodallega and N'Zogbia have all been linked with big money moves I am keeping my fingers crossed that all three are still here in February.

We have already signed Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojković on loan for the rest of the season and we are linked with quite a few players including Matty Fryatt, Waldo Ponce and two more Hondurans, I expect a busy arrivals and departure lounge at the DW Stadium this next three weeks

8) Right then, lets have a prediction kind sir! Good luck with the rest of the season Latics fans (apart from the 90mins against Villa obviously)!

Well I feel this will be our first double of the season and a storming second half performance will see us gain a great 3-1 victory.

Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.